Jan 22 2009
GARCIA TALKS CONTINUE, FA POOL STILL LOADED
According to Fox Sports, Freddy Garcia is on the prowl, and he wants to pitch in New York. The question is, will he shake hands with Omar Minaya or Brian Cashman? The Yanks would seem to be more attractive to him with the team that they’ve put together this off-season, not to mention that he’s had all of his success in the American League. He’s actually 118-77 over his career, which is 41 games over .500 - not too shabby. I realize that he’s not in his prime anymore, but he’d be a nice guy to stick into the back of the rotation, as well as an insurance policy in case anyone goes down (Burnett, etc.). He’ll at the very least keep you in games, which is really all you’re looking for from a back-end guy.
We’ll have to wait to see where these talks go, but either way, the Yankee brass is clearly not done with their remodeling of the upcoming 2009 squad. If they can’t get Garcia or Pettitte signed, there’s a real possibility that they could take a shot at Sheets for 1 year (it would just be such a bargain for this type of pitcher). There’s also Oliver Perez still hanging around, and I’ve made my endorsement for him numerous times (as long as it’s not a ridiculous asking price).
Juan Cruz is another name that keeps getting thrown around, since he is coming off a couple of solid seasons with Arizona and he could add even more of a punch to the hard-throwing bullpen. My theory is that you could NEVER EVER have too much pitching, whether it’s starting or relieving - we all know that over 162 games, there’s going to be injuries. There’s another guy out there that’s a very interesting case, and his name is Jon Garland - I’m kind of surprised that no one’s touched him yet, being that he’s averaged over 200 innings a year (work-horse). He gives up runs, but he’s almost 20 games over .500 in his career, and has pitched in the American League the entire time. With the run-support that he’d be getting here, I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t win 15 games (just a suggestion).
And boys, lay off Swish and the X-man, they’re beautiful pieces to the puzzle. 21 days until pitchers & catchers….
do you believe how many FA’s are still on the market? I have done a couple posts about it. I also just did one on the projected opening day lineup for the Yankees. Check it out if you get a chance. I’d love to hear the thoughts of another Yanks fan.
Yea it’s pretty crazy - only a few weeks away from spring training, and there’s big-time players floating around who could change teams dramatically. I’ll check your stuff out, thanks for the comments.